Each week I hope to send out the latest version of “Redeeming the Week in Pop Culture,” with the intention of touching on a variety of the latest topics from the world of pop culture. But one man can only watch/read/listen to so much on his own, especially a husband and father who wants to spend time with his family, so please feel free to forward anything my way that you think may be worthy of attention. Because chances are, I may have missed it.
It would be inexcusable for me to not begin this week’s list with the new preview for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I was recently asked in a radio interview about any thoughts I had regarding Star Wars and biblical parallels from the saga. Unfortunately I had to say that I hadn’t prepared any thoughts on that recently but was definitely planning on doing so before the new movie came out in December. But how about this? At the root of the original trilogy is a young man who was basically wandering through life aimlessly, not knowing his purpose for being on earth—uh, I mean, Tatooine—until he learns who his father is. And this sudden sense of identity sends him on a path that changes his life and the world around him. Chapter 3 of my book All You Want to Know about the Bible in Pop Culture deals with this very issue of learning who we are as children of God and what that means for our individual lives. No, it doesn’t mean we can call upon the Force to blow up the Death Star without any computer guidance, but we will have access to a God who created the universe out of nothing and can bring the dead back to life. I think I’ll go with the latter.
The first season of the new Marvel show Daredevil dropped on Netflix last week, and after two episodes it’s quickly making me like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter just a little bit less. While those two shows are definitely more family friendly, Daredevil shows us a grittier, more troubling, side to the Avengers’ universe, and so far that’s a great thing. With an inspiring father-son storyline plus lines like: “But you can’t see.” “There are other ways to see” (a reminder of 2 Corinthians 5:7—“Walk by faith, not by sight”), I see great reason so far that my “God goggles” will be working overtime while watching this show. But in the end, the blind attorney who puts on a mask and fights crime at night (with absolutely no strings lifting him up or computer animation helping him leap around) is an advocate for those who cannot defend themselves, just as the Bible asks us all to be. As a lawyer, Matt Murdoch looks to defend only innocent people whom no one else believes and may not even have the money to pay him. But he is acting out King Lemuel’s plea in Proverbs 31:8–9 to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” And as the masked vigilante, at least in the first two episodes, Matt has taken up the cause of stopping the human trafficking ring that the rest of his community has chosen to ignore. I applaud Netflix, Marvel, and the creators of Daredevil for helping to bring to light the unfortunately increasing practice of slavery and human trafficking still going on under our noses today, with not nearly enough attention being brought to it by media, politicians, law enforcement, and the church. Perhaps Matt’s example of being an advocate can affect us in a way similar to the way it influenced Rosario Dawson’s character in episode 2, who said, “I found a man who needed help, so I helped him.” If only we could all think as simply as she.
What’s wrong with the world today when the first Batman v. Superman trailer we get is filmed on a cell phone in a theater in a foreign country? I’m sorry, are these not America’s superheroes? Can we not get these released on the Internet in HD quality? And between the time I first wrote this and then went back to upload the trailer, it had been taken down. So let me just quote these three lines from it: “Is it really surprising that the most powerful man in the world should be a figure of controversy?” “We as a population on this planet have been looking for a savior.” “We’re talking about a being whose existence challenges our very own sense of priority in the universe.” Wow. As though Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel wasn’t blatant enough in its Savior parallels (of which I wrote on in the opening chapter of All You Want to Know about the Bible in Pop Culture), the sequel looks to top even that. There’s so much to dig into there, but unfortunately, I think it’ll best have to wait until everything is put into context when the film is released next March 25. But keep preaching, Zach Synder. Keep preaching.
Have you heard of this new show on the CW called The Messengers? The preview made me at least want to record the first one and give it a try. Whether there is any bit of gospel truth to be redeemed from this show dealing with the end times or not is up in the air. Most likely it is yet another show (Dig, anyone?) that has no idea what the Apocalypse and Armageddon and Antichrist really mean, but there could be some good opportunities for conversation for anyone who has day-to-day interaction with the young audience that seems to keep the CW afloat.
And don’t forget episode 3 of A.D.: The Bible Continues, airing Sunday at 9:00 EST. Once again I’ll be live-tweeting during the episode and would love to hear from you during it. You can find me (@GodFamilyNoles) using hashtags #ADtheSeries and #BibleInPopCulture. Finally we are into the events found in the book of Acts. I know longer have to keep going back and forth between four different Gospels to see what is what. And look for my write-up on the new episode on Monday. See you then.
Kevin Harvey is the author of two books, his latest entitled All You Want to Know about the Bible in Pop Culture, which is now available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Walmart, and Sam’s Club.
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